As with yesterday’s Pontiac Grand Am-amino, while doing research for an upcoming story in Asa Hall and Richard Langworth’s “The Studebaker Century: A National Heritage,” I came across this chart proposing the extensive use of shared body panels in the 1957 Studebaker-Packard line. Pretty standard stuff, save for the vehicle in the lower left corner.

It appears Studebaker-Packard, before their merger with Curtiss-Wright, had envisioned an express coupe. If so, they would have either beat or matched Ford’s Ranchero to the punch.

And check it, Studebaker even envisioned an Aztek-like tent package to go with it.

Hall and Langworth, however, provide not a clue as to whether any prototypes might have been whipped up or why the Studebaker Express Coupe never emerged; considering the chart above, it seems the cost of stamping new body panels wouldn’t have been an issue.

UPDATE (13.March 2008): Jim Maloney, a former Studebaker employee and South Bend resident during the late 1950s, said this is the first he’s ever heard of a Studebaker Express Coupe. So there.

4 Responses to “the stillborn Studebaker express coupe”

This was when Studebaker / Packard was trying to work out a deal with Ford, to use Ford body shells but with their own S/P designed sheet metal. So this would have given S/P the Ranchero body to work with. Ford didn’t go for it of course.

“This was when Studebaker / Packard was trying to work out a deal with Ford, to use Ford body shells but with their own S/P designed sheet metal. So this would have given S/P the Ranchero body to work with. Ford didn’t go for it of course”
This is not what was happening – originally. SPC only became interested in Ford body sharing when their own extensive plan failed because of financing. And, tho Ford was not interested because they were off on their own ill advised expansion which quickly derailed, Henry II was very interested. If not for the Board, it may well have happened. I dare say a Ford with Studebaker in the fold and Packard would have faired far better than Edsel and Continental, and would likely still be around – unlike todays stand alone Ford, with a deadweight Lincoln, and a discontined Mercury. .

This was the interchangeability plan Studebaker-Packard had for the 1957 or 1958 model year. It was based on an internal platform that was ditched when Studebaker-Packard was taken over by Curtis-Wright. Curtis-Wright gutted much of the mounting losses of the company and retained Studebaker’s facilities in South Bend, Indiana only and began work on new product that would be the Lark. Only one prototype model based on the Studebaker-Clipper-Packard body sharing plan was made, A Packard pillared sedan code named “Black Bess”. It was scraped during the change of management in November of 1956

Design for the The Ford body sharing plan was for full-size Packards and maybe Studebakers. Ford was expanding its division with Edsel and Continental and was not interested. Drawings were made of Packard’s on ’57 Lincoln frames by Richard Teague. Curtis-Wright found the plan to not be cost effective due to the closure of operations in Detroit and the transport costs to South Bend.